The Lone Swordsman
by Great Angemon
Summary: A lone swordsman wanders the world, his own country long gone. He helps a family in need, and finds himself in the sights of the lord of the land. Will he be able to protect not only himself, but his new ward? Post!Oot, if you want to think about it like that.
1. Chapter 1

Lone

By GreatAngemon

Silhouetted against the horizon, where the sun was setting, stood a lone man atop a small hill. Beside him was a small decrepit tree. Then, as the sun fell behind the earth, he disappeared.

_~Lone Swordsman~_

Link looked at the small fishing village with disdain before walking on the path into the city square. Almost immediately, he was engulfed in a swarm of villagers and peddlers. "I'm not interested in buying anything," he tied to say, but was silenced as another merchant shoved his product in front of his face.

At last, his patience finally wore thin, and he shouted, "I'm not buying anything! Get out of my way!" The merchants all walked away dejectedly, and the villagers fell back, clearing the path. They began walking away, and Link heard one murmur, "How rude." But he didn't care.

He kept walking until he saw a small family sitting on the ground, crying, outside a small shop. He stopped walking, and knelt down beside them. "Why are you out here?" he asked. The little girl looked up at her mother, and then started crying harder.

"Lord Zant," the father said warily, "took our home for not paying our taxes." He looked shrewdly at Link, then added, "Why do you care? No one in the village cares about us."

"I'm not from this village," Link said. "And I _do _care about you." He helped the family to their feet, then said, "Please, follow me. I'll take you to a place where you can stay." He led the family on the path through the village, and out of the town. After a few miles, they saw a small house, built upon a tree.

"Whose house is this?" the father of the family asked.

"Mine," Link replied. "I built this house when I came to this country." He led the family up the ladder, and then into the house. "You can stay here as long as you like. You will be safe here," he said, showing them into a small bedroom. "This is the only bed, but you can have it." He left the room, and exited the house.

"Where are you going?" the father called out from the house as Link walked down the road.

"I have places to go," Link said. "You can stay here as long as you like. You are safe from Zant here."

"At least tell me your name, so that I can properly thank you."

Link was silent for a moment, staring at the road ahead of him, until he finally said, "Link."

_~Lone Swordsman~_

A month later, Link found himself outside his house in the tree. He decided to see if the family had left yet, and climbed up the ladder. As he entered the house, he saw the little girl lying on the couch. When she looked up, she smiled.

"Hi mister Link!" she said, happily jumping up. She grabbed his hand and began pulling him into the bedroom. "Mommy and daddy are in the bedroom! They were hoping you'd show up!"

"How come?"

"They wanted to thank you for letting us stay here," the girl said. She pulled on the bedroom door, but when they stepped inside, the room was empty. "Mommy?" the girl said. "Daddy?"

And then Link heard a commotion from below the window. He grabbed the girl's hand and pulled her through the house, and down the ladder. When they reached the other side of the house, Link saw the girl's family kneeling, tied at the wrists with gag in their mouths, with a tall, shadowy man standing behind them.

"Mommy!" the girl cried, trying to run forward, but Link held her back. "Daddy!" She was struggling, and Link had trouble holding her, until he grabbed her around the middle and hoisted her off the ground.

"No," Link said quietly in her ear. "You can't go over there. That man… he is called Death Sword… He will strike you down before you even get close." He set her down on the ground again, but this time she didn't try to run to her parent's sides, though Link saw glittering tears in her eyes.

"Death Sword," he said, raising his voice slightly, and holding the girl back with a hand on her chest, "why are you disturbing this family, when they have done you no wrong? Why not leave them be?"

"Lord Zant has placed a tax on this country," Death Hand hissed. His voice was cold and emotionless. "These people did not pay, so now they must…" Link saw him smile in the shadow of his hood, "…make restitution." He gave a cold laugh, and then raised his massive sword.

"Wait!" Link shouted. "According to your laws, the laws of your lord Zant, these two must be allowed to say final words before they are executed. Remove the binding from their mouths." Death Sword scowled, but knew Link spoke the truth.

He laid aside his massive weapon, then roughly removed the gags from the mouth's of the girl's parents. "Elisa," her mother said, gasping for air. The girl, Elisa, ran forward before Link could stop her, and embraced both her parents. Link hurried forward and grabbed her around the waist.

"Get back!" he ordered. She ran back to where they had been standing earlier, and Link turned to her parents. "Can I help you?" he asked quickly, and in a low voice so that Death Hand could not hear him. "Do you want me to do anything? I can cut your bonds. I can hold off Death Sword, and you can escape."

But Elisa's father shook his head. "Even if you did hold him off, he'd find us again. They took everything for the stupid tax. When we couldn't pay, they threatened us. The found us here. They can find us, no matter where we go." He looked broken; his hair was disheveled, his lip was bleeding, and he had tears in his eyes. "Promise me one thing, Link." He stared straight into Link's eyes, and said, "Take care of my daughter. That's all you can do for us. Take care of her." Elisa's mother seemed to be beyond tears, and she nodded.

"Please, Link," she whispered. "Keep my baby safe."

Link nodded. "I give you my word," he said solemnly. "No harm will befall her while I can protect her."

"Thank you," her father said. He nodded, then added, "Tell her we love her."

Link stepped away and hurried to Elisa's side. Kneeling to the ground, he grabbed the girl and held her close to his chest so that she could not see the terrible scene unfolding before his own eyes. But she wouldn't stay still, and broke free from his hold, just as Death Sword swung his mighty blade, cleaving the heads from Elisa's parent's.

She cried out, and tried to run forward, but Link once again held her back, grabbing her around the waist. "It's alright," he whispered into her ear, still struggling to hold onto her. Then Death Sword looked up at them from the corpses.

"Their debt to Lord Zant has not been paid in full," he said evilly. "That girl must also pay." He stepped forward.

"You touch her," Link said, his voice laced with venom, "and I'll rip you apart. You lay one hand on her, and you'll be wiped from existence."

Death Hand's foot faltered as he stepped, then he took a step back. "Alright, Link," he said coldly. "I'll let her live… for now. But you can't watch her forever."

"She is my ward. She will always be watched by me. You will _not_ lay a hand on her." Then Link picked up the still sobbing child and carried her into the house. He laid her down on the couch and continued stroking her hair, whispering, "It's alright… it's alright…" into her ears.

Eventually, her tears and cries subsided, until all that was left was a hoarse whimpering. "Link…" she whispered, "why did he do that?"

"Lord Zant…" Link said, "is a bad man, who'll stop at nothing to get what he thinks he is owed. And right now, he thinks he is owed by you and your parents."

"But," he said a few moments later, and Elisa looked up at him with, eyes sparkling with tears, "I promise… I'm going to make him pay for what he did to you, Elisa."

_~Lone Swordsman_

"Death Sword," said a high pitched, silky voice softly," why have you failed me?"

"It was _him," _Death Sword murmured. "_He _was there. He took the girl. He won't let us near her."

"Then we'll have to get him away from her," the soft voice said.

"OF course, Lord Zant," Death Sword said, bowing. "I'll do my best, sire."

"Do not fail me again, Death Sword."


	2. Chapter 2

The Lone Swordsman

Part Two

By GreatAngemon

_**I totally derped! I marked Zelda a character in this story! She's not, or at least, she won't be a big character. I've made the necessary changes. I hope you'll keep reading, despite my stupidity.**_

_~Lone Swordsman~_

Hours seemed to pass. Link continued to stroke Elisa's hair, and whisper comforting words into her ear. When at last she fell asleep, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, where he set her on the bed.

"Goodnight, Elisa," he whispered, placing a small crystal in her hand. A swirling blue sphere rested in its center. "Be careful."

He stepped away from the bed, and saw a faint blue glow envelope her body for a moment, then he headed for the door.

_~Lone Swordsman~_

When Elisa woke up hours later, she found the crystal in her hand. Then her eyes wandered, and she found herself in the house's only bedroom, which forced her to remember what had happened the day before. Her eyes filled with tears, before she heard a soft sound outside her window; a sound that reminded her of when she would help her father dig up crops in the garden.

When she stepped off of the ladder, she saw Link standing in front of freshly dug earth, leaning on a shovel in the ground. "What are those?"

Link jumped and turned. He smiled softly when he saw her. "Come here." She walked to his side, and he knelt down and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. In front of her were two rectangles of earth, side-by-side. "These are you parents' graves." His tone was soft and soothing, but that couldn't stop the tears from rushing down her face.

Link wrapped his arms around her, and she buried her face in his shoulder. She was sobbing, and the crystal fell from her hand. When she finally stopped crying again, Link grabbed the crystal from the ground and handed it to her. "Do you know what this is?"

She shook her head. "This is an enchanted crystal, from my homeland. It's the last of its kind," Link said. He pulled two similar crystals from his pockets. "The one you have is called Nayru's Love. The one with the red is called Din's Fire, and the green one is called Farore's Wind. Each one bears a powerful spell on it."

"Where are you from?" Elisa asked sniveling and wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"I'm from a far-away land," Link said. "A place that is long since gone." His eyes shone with tears, but he quickly wiped them on his sleeve. "But my home isn't so different from this place. Termina bears many similarities to my country. The people are alike, as are their mannerisms. Even the food is similar."

"Do you miss it?"

The question shocked Link. "Do I… Yes, I miss it very much. I especially miss the ruler. She was a great queen, and my dear friend. And she was not a tyrant, like Zant is."

~_Lone Swordsman~_

An enormous cloaked man walked through the center of a small village, his hood drawn over his face. A sword to match his size was strapped to his back. He kept stopping, talking to people who passed him, asking the same question. "Where is he?"

The people he stopped always answered the same; "Who?" He always walked away, and the people shivered in fright before hurrying away to their destinations.

Finally, he asked one man, who like himself was wrapped in a cloak, though purple, and hid his face. His answer was, "He who asks, already knows the answer. He merely wishes to spread his wisdom." This had been their pre-arranged secret phrase.

"Aganihm," Death Sword said, taking the man's hand and kissing it. The other man, Aganihm, did the same.

"How can I help the honorable Lord Death Sword?"

"You can tell me where to find _him_."

Aganihm's eyes grew wide. "I can't tell you, Death Sword," he said in a brisk voice. "I do not know."

"Do not lie to me, Aganihm," Death Sword said. "My master requires payment from a young girl in his charge. If I do not find them, I will be forced to pay for her."

"Lord Death Sword," Aganihm said. "I wish I could help you, but I do not know. His movements are a secret because he does not wish us to know. If I could tell you, I would. I wish for nothing but him to be gone."

"If you will not help me now, you will help me later," Death Sword said. His voice was dark, and it made Aganihm shiver. "You will join me in my search, and then you will be the one to cut the heart out of him."

Aganihm gulped, and nodded.

~_Lone Swordsman~_

"Ready?" Elisa nodded. Link raised his bow to shoulder height, quickly drew back the string and released it, sending an arrow flying. In the split second he'd had, he had managed to aim perfectly; the arrow flew at its mark, and hit it in the center.

"Wow!" Elisa exclaimed, jumping up and running to look at the target they had used. The arrow was clean in the center. "How did you do that, mister Link?"

"Many years of practice," Link said. "And stop calling me _mister_. I'm not that old."

Elisa tugged the arrow from its resting place and walked back to Link. "Can I do that?" she asked, pointing to the bow which was hanging limply in Link's hand. He looked down at it, then shrugged.

He pulled her around to face the target, and helped her hold onto the bow properly. Then, as he helped her nock the arrow onto the string, he said, "You need to take careful aim. If you miss by even an inch, your target has a chance of fighting back.

Elisa aimed the bow carefully, and released the string. There was a loud resounding, "THWACK" as it hit her in the arm. Link watched the arrow soar, and was about to give her a compliment when the arrow flew past its target and into the woods.

He pointed at the target, smiling. "You missed." Elisa looked at the target, then back at her arm, which had a red welt midway down. She began rubbing it furiously, trying to ease the pain.

Link went to retrieve the arrow. Just as he picked it up by the shaft, he heard Elisa scream. He nocked the arrow and drew the string back, looking out of the trees to where he had left the child. There, holding Elisa in the air by the arm was Death Sword. At his side was a man Link recognized as Aganihm, minister of affairs to the people.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Death Sword called in a sing song voice. He cackled evilly as Elisa kicked at him.

"Release her!" Link shouted, stepping out from his cover in the trees. He had his arrow trained on Death Sword's heart. "Release her, and I will let you live for now."

Death Sword smiled beneath his hood. "I have the advantage, you arrogant boy," he said. "You can't take both of us out with your one arrow."

"You're right," Link said. He quickly re-aimed his bow, released the arrow, drew another from his quiver and trained it back on Death Sword. "But I _can_ take both of you out with my _two _arrows." As he said this, Aganihm fell to the ground, blood pouring from his stomach where the arrow was firmly nestled.

"You…" Death Sword hissed darkly. He dropped Elisa, who fell to the ground and didn't move. "I will have the girl. And I will make you pay for your unlawful ways, boy." He said the last words with a sneer. "Lord Zant will have your heart in a jar on his wall."

He began walking, and Aganihm crawled after him, trailing blood. Link ran to Elisa and scooped her up in his arms. "Are you alright?" he murmured, holding her tight.

"I'm fine, Link," she said. "But…" she looked down at her hands, then checked her pockets. "I can't find your crystal."

_~Lone Swordsman~_

"We know what his powers are, master," Death Sword said. He held up a small diamond crystal with a glowing blue sphere at its center.

The figure in its throne raised its hand, and the crystal flew towards him. "Ah, so that is it…" he whispered in his high, cold voice. "Well, I now know where he is from. We now know his weaknesses. But I know that his strengths far outnumber them."

"Yes, master." Death Sword bowed, and slunk from the room.


	3. Chapter 3

The Lone Swordsman

Part Three

By GreatAngemon

"You lost…" Link said, his eyes clouding with worry. Tears began to form in Elisa's eyes, until Link hurriedly added, "It's alright. It doesn't matter." He hugged her, hiding the worry in his face from her.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I guess he took it from me when he picked me up."

"It's alright, Elisa. I already said that." He tucked a strand of hair behind her hair as he let her go, and said, "Look, how about you and I go into town. I'm kind of hungry and if I remember correctly my pantry isn't stocked very well."

Elisa jumped up, smiling, her attitude immediately improved. "Okay!" She ran away to the front of the house, and a second later Link heard the front door open. He chuckled as he followed.

When he entered the small house, he heard sounds of clothing flying in the bedroom. When he poked his head in through the door, a shirt flew over his eyes almost immediately. "Well, okay then," he said, feigning insult. "We'll be leaving in a couple minutes. I just need to change."

"Mo too!" Elisa cried, rummaging through drawers and under the bed. Link closed the door and headed into the kitchen. He lifted the rug in front of the pantry, showing a secret door. He lifted it, and a staircase was revealed. He grabbed a lantern from a hook on the wall of the tunnel and followed it, as it spiraled into the tree. Soon he came to the bottom, where he found a small bed, a chest and a closet filled with green, red and blue tunics.

He selected a fresh green tunic, slipped off the old one and replaced it with the clean one. He pulled a new hat out of the chest, and as he pulled it on his eyes fell on the picture next to his bed. In it were eight people; an old, rotund man, a giant made of stone, an exotic desert beauty, an elderly woman with short gray hair, a tall woman who looked to be half fish, a short girl with green hair, and in the center, with the others surrounding them, were two more people holding hands; a young man in a green tunic with blond hair, and a young woman with long auburn hair wearing a long pink gown.

"Zelda…" he murmured, "oh, how I miss you, Zelda." He picked up the Pictograph, stared longingly at it for a moment, then set it down and walked back up the staircase. "Elisa!" he called when he reached the top and had closed the secret door.

"Here I am!" Elisa screamed, jumping out of the bedroom. "How do I look?"

Link looked her up and down. She was wearing a light blue dress which made her blue eyes sparkle, and accented her blonde hair. "You look very pretty." She giggled, twirling her hair between her fingers.

"Thanks Link," she said. She grabbed his hand and pulled him out the front door. They climbed down the ladder and then she said, "It's a long walk to town. I wish I'd chosen something easier to walk in. Or that I had a horse."

"Your wish is my command," Link said. He opened a small pouch on his belt and pulled out an ocarina. He blew a short tune into it. They stood still for a moment, listening to the notes echo in the empty fields.

"What's supposed to happen?" Elisa asked, looking at the small blue instrument. Then they heard a neighing in the distance, followed by a clop-clopping noise.

"Epona," Link said when the horse approached them. He patted her on the nose, whispering into her ear.

"Wow," Elisa whispered, staring at the beautiful chestnut mare. "I didn't know you had a horse, Link."

"Yeah," Link said, barely knowing what he was saying. "I've had Epona since I was a kid, like you. Another dear friend gave her to me. She is one of my last links to my homeland. And she is my closest companion."

Elisa stepped closer to the mare, only for the horse to rear up and whinny in fear. "Hold on!" Link said sternly, grabbing the horse's reins and trying to calm her down. "Stay back, Elisa! Stay back!" Elisa did as he said, moving away from them both.

When Link finally got the horse back under control, she said, "Did I do something wrong?" She looked worriedly at Link and Epona.

"No," Link panted, stroking the horse's neck comfortingly, "Epona just doesn't like new people very much. But I think…" He turned to look at Elisa, then suddenly grabbed her under the arms, picked her up and swung her onto the horse's saddle. "Yes, I thought so. She'll let you ride her if I'm here."

He grabbed Epona's reins again and began leading the horse towards the town. After a few moments silence between them, Elisa said, "Link, will you tell me about where you came from?"

Link was silent for a while, and then he said in a quiet voice, "What do you want to know?"

"What was it like there? Were the people nice? Do you miss your friends?"

"Whoa, whoa," Link said, holding his hand up to silence Elisa. "I can only answer one question at a time. So let me try and answer your first one. My home was a beautiful country; lush fields, a beautiful lake, green forests… There were different peoples in each of the places. Goron's and Zora's, who are people that live in Termina, also lived there.

"The Goron's lived on Death Mountain, an active volcano in the north of my country. The Zora's lived in Lake Hylia, a crystal clear lake in the south. The forest was inhabited by a race of children who never grew up called the Kokiri. There was a desert to the west. It was the home of the Gerudo, a race where only one man is born every hundred years, so the race is mostly women.

"In the middle of the country was a castle, where the royal family lived. I also lived there, as a personal guest of one of its members." He sighed. "She was a great friend."

"The queen?"

Link looked up at the girl sitting on the horse. "Yes, she was the queen. She was a great ruler. Kind to her subjects and loyal to her country. We went through many hardships together."

They continued walking into the town, talking about Link's life in his previous home until they reached the restaurant.

_~Lone Swordsman~_

"Death Sword," said the high, cold voice.

"Yes, my liege?"

"Fetch me…King Bulbin."

"Your Majesty?" Death Sword whispered. "What do you need him for?"

"You have failed me, Death Sword. He is loyal. I will have him retrieve Link for me."

"But-" Death Sword began.

"Now." It was a soft hiss, but it carried more traces of threat than the loudest shout.

"Yes, sire."

_~Lone Swordsman~_

Link gripped Elisa's hand as they exited the restaurant. She was laughing hard at a story he had just told her and was having trouble walking, so Link had grabbed her hand and begun guiding her out. "Come on," he said, smiling. "We need to get back to the house."

"Okay," Elisa said, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye. She continued giggling as Link helped her mount the chestnut mare, and only stopped after they had left the town far behind. She was just about to open her mouth to ask Link a question when they heard a crashing sound from behind them.

"Run!" a villager shouted, running past them. "King Bulbin is here!"

"King Bulbin…" Link said. His voice was worried, and his face dark and foreboding. "Elisa," he said, looking up at her, on the horse. "Take Epona. There's a cave just behind those trees. Hide in it. I will try and hold him off. I want you to go."

"But-"

"Go!" Link shouted, slapping the horse's rear. The horse gave a loud whinny and darted away.

"Link!" Elisa screamed. He drew the purple-hilted blade from the scabbard on his back, pulled off his shield, and ran back towards the town. Once safe in the trees, Elisa dismounted Epona, grabbed her reins and led her to the edge of the woods. She saw that many of the buildings were ablaze, and several villagers were being thrown around like toys.

"He'll be okay," Elisa whispered, more to herself than to Epona, who was breathing heavily. Just then, a scream broke the silence of the wooded area. It was a deep, blood-curdling scream.

"LINK!" Elisa shouted. She ran around the tree she was hiding behind, down the path and into the town. Once she reached the restaurant they had eaten at earlier, she saw Link lying in the dirt, his sword and shield lying a foot away from him on the ground. Standing over his prone figure was a monster.

The monster was enormous, even bigger than Death Sword. He had an enormous potbelly, and a small head with two horns emerging just above his ears. "L-leave him a-a-alone!" Elisa stuttered. She stepped between Link's figure and the monster, holding up her fists, trying to seem brave.

The monster gave a small, dark laugh before raising its weapon. It was hooked at the end, and dull on the back. It looked like it weighed a ton. "I will crush you, human-child."

It raised the massive blade above its head and swung it downward. Elisa closed her eyes, but didn't feel an impact on her body or the ground near her. Instead, she heard a loud, metallic clanging. Cracking her eyes open slightly, she saw Link standing in front of her, holding a shield above his head, the monster's weapon being held back by it.

"Get back," Link said through gritted teeth. Elisa did as she was told, running to the safety of the restaurant's doorway.

Link fell back, his shield flying from his arm. "Leave this town," Link said, snatching up his blade from the ground. "Leave this town, now. I am its guard. You will not touch it, or its residents."

"Die, human." The creature rushed at Link, swinging its massive blade. Quicker than the eye could see, Link sheathed his sword, drew and nocked his bow and fired an arrow straight at the monster. The arrow landed in its shoulder.

The monster screamed in pain. Roaring, it grabbed the shaft of the arrow, pulled it out and crushed it in two. Link re-drew his sword, twirled it lightly between his fingers, and said, "Yield or die, King Bulbin."

The monster roared again and charged once more at him. Link lifted his blade, knocking the creature's weapon aside. The monster fell forward onto his fat belly, groaning in pain. "I warned you," Link said, stepping towards the creature's head. He lifted his blade, and swung it down.

The creature's body seized up momentarily, but slumped-relaxed, even-as its head fell away from its shoulders and rolled on the ground. Link ran towards the girl huddled in the arched doorway of the restaurant.

A moment later, he embraced Elisa, cradling her head as she cried. "It's alright," he cooed. "He's gone." He hid from her the monster's head, which had rolled away from its body. "It's alright." Suddenly, he released the girl, raised his bow, and shot off three quick arrows.

One-by-one, three small creatures fell from the rooftops of nearby houses. Link approached one of them, who began crawling away, but Link grabbed it by its neck and lifted it off the ground. "Tell your Lord Zant," he said, his voice deadly, "that if he tries to hurt the people in this village, I will kill him. Tell him that from me."

He threw the creature hard against a wall, and it began to crawl away. Link walked back to Elisa, who was cowering in the restaurant's doorway.

"Come on," he said. "Let's go home."

_~Lone Swordsman~_

"Sire?"

"King Bulbin has failed me, Death Sword."

"Yes, Lord Zant."

"Bring me his head."

"Of course!" Death Sword rushed from the room.


End file.
